Despite objections from Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder Rebecca Grossman, attorneys for the family of two boys killed when run over by the philanthropist in 2020 want to take the deposition of Grossman’s daughter as part of the discovery in the plaintiffs’ civil suit.
Grossman’s attorneys have already filed court papers asking Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Huey P. Cotton to prevent lawyers for the boys’ family from deposing her husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, and daughter, Alexis Grossman in the civil suit the family filed against her by the plaintiffs, Karim and Nancy Iskander, and the boys’ brother Zachary.
However, on Wednesday the Iskander attorneys filed court papers asking that they be allowed to depose Alexis Grossman despite the pending Dec. 1 hearing on the Grossman protective order.
“Based on her criminal trial testimony, Alexis Grossman has personal firsthand knowledge about important facts and issues in this case, including what she saw, heard and observed when she went to the scene of the fatal collision and saw and heard her mom being interviewed by police…,” the Iskander attorneys state in their court papers filed in advance of a Jan. 23 hearing.
In an already concluded criminal case, jurors found Grossman guilty of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving in the Sept. 29, 2020, deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, aged 11 and 8, while they were crossing a Westlake Village street with their family. Grossman was sentenced in 2024 to 15 years to life in prison.
Grossman’s attorneys contend that the one deposition previously taken of Grossman’s husband, a co-defendant in the suit, was sufficient and that deposing their daughter, Alexis Grossman, would traumatize her. The Grossman lawyers also maintain that Alexis Grossman’s criminal trial testimony should be all that the plaintiffs need from the daughter.
Also named a defendant in the complaint filed in January 2021 is former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, Rebecca Grossman’s former boyfriend. The two had cocktails and later the two then raced each other in their vehicles raced along Triunfo Canyon Road until they reached a crosswalk and the children were struck.
According to the Iskander attorneys’ court papers, Alexis Grossman interacted with Erickson at her house after the accident and she contended that he smelled of alcohol and threatened her. Alexis Grossman also volunteered to testify in the criminal trial, the Iskander lawyers further state in their pleadings.
“So, while we appreciate her aversion to having to sit for deposition by plaintiffs and defendant Scott Erickson, the reality is she’s already proven competent and entirely ready to do so,” according to the Iskander attorneys’ court papers, who further state that Alexis Grossman’s criminal trial testimony is inadmissible hearsay because she is available to testify at the deposition.
Grossman, 62, of Hidden Hills, tried to flee the scene and she likely would have been successful had her vehicle not automatically shut down due to it sensing the massive impact that had just occurred, the Iskander attorneys state in their court papers.
Grossman then lied to law enforcement about her speed and how much she had to drink, and then contended she did not know why her airbag suddenly deployed despite her vehicle sustaining massive front-end damage, the Iskander attorneys further state in their pleadings.